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AUGUST

**26, 2020**

Harold Meyerson' s
National Convention Report

**Unconventional:** The Republicans, Day Two

The Melania Mystery, the Kudlow Confusion, and the Two-Track Convention

****

Donald Trump has whetted my appetite for more.

Now that he's pardoned Jon Ponder (former bank robber, now a
God-fearing, cop-supporting, Trump-backing helper of ex-cons) as a
feature of night two of this year's Republican Convention, hope
springs eternal that Trump's just warming to the task and will pardon
still more people on nights three and four. Too bad he can't pardon
Roger Stone again, but how about Paul Manafort and Steve Bannon (who may
not be convicted yet, but a proactive pardon could cover a multitude of
sins)? Or Michael Flynn? And in the spirit of Christian charity, how
about pardoning himself? If nothing else, it would boost the
convention's sagging ratings.

The convention is now clearly barreling down two very different tracks.
The first is aimed at inflaming Trump's base and those susceptible to
his racist, nativist appeals. For those militia-heads yearning for civil
war, Trump's son Eric sounded the tocsin last night. America, he
noted, had "defeated fascism, defeated communism, and in 68 days will
defeat the radical left," which has seized whole quadrants of Joe
Biden's mind.

The other track appeals to those who yearn for the kinder, gentler
Republican Party of yore-mythic though it may largely be. (Recall that
George H.W. Bush, who promised such a party, also deployed the racist
Willie Horton ad to defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988.) For those who seek
signs of sensitivity from the Trumpified Republicans, the party rolled
out its sole sensitivity spokesperson last night: Trump's wife
Melania.

If these two strategies coexist only uneasily, well, a campaign whose
standard-bearer is down by ten points is in no condition to be hemmed in
by consistency. Like Walt Whitman (in this if nothing else), Trump's
Republicans unabashedly contradict themselves. My favorite contradiction
of the evening came from Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez's depiction
of life under Joe Biden, who would lead us, she said, down "the dark
road of chaos and government control." The specters of wild riots and
authoritarian regimes can each be invoked, but not if they're bound
together.

The evening also doubled down on what is supposedly Trump's strongest
point: the economy. In so doing, it managed to erase the time period
between March 2020 and today. Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow
apparently has issues of time and tense, mixing up mythical pasts,
presents, and futures. He spoke of the pandemic and its accompanying
economic collapse in the past tense, noting gleefully that "Americans
are going back to work" now that those dark days are over.

Yesterday, more than 1,100 Americans died from the virus.

Support Independent, Fact-Checked Journalism

If one goal of the convention is to stoke the passions of those
Americans whom Fox News summons to dubious battle every night, most
recently by turning Joe Biden into Joe Stalin, the other goal is to
allay the anxieties of those once-reliable Republican voters who abhor
how divisive the party has become. To that end, the convention has
created counter-messaging: OK, lady, you don't like the thuggish
tweets and policies the president puts out? Look, here's his hitherto
concealed human side, his passion for justice. See, he's naturalizing
immigrants, talking to frontline workers, being validated by people of
color.

I doubt any of that really works. It runs headlong into Trump's every
public action. The humanizing project was dead as a doornail, until
Melania came down to the Rose Garden. Hers was the one speech that
actually suggested someone in the White House is aware of a world beyond
the one that Fox News creates.

Unlike any other speaker so far, Melania noted that the pandemic still
exists and expressed sympathy not just for its direct victims but for
all who struggle with its myriad dislocations. She acknowledged the
ubiquitous pain. She spoke directly to mothers. She sounded tolerant,
speaking of "the three great religions: Islam, Christianity and
Judaism." (Fortunately, she wasn't refuted by a Trump backer pulled
from the speaking schedule at the last minute due to her tweet about the
Jews conspiring to take over the world.) Unlike Trump's children, his
aides, and his stooges, she didn't sound like she wanted to cast the
Democratic half of the country into the burning pit. It's worth noting
that Melania rejected the assistance of campaign speechwriters and had a
top aide work on the speech.

Whether true or not, it was a convincing depiction of who Melania is.
Well, almost convincing. Melania may well believe, as she said, that
"helping children is not a political goal; it's a moral imperative."
How she squares that with her husband's policy of separating toddlers
from their parents and putting them in cages, however, isn't easy to
understand. Nor is squaring her characterization of Islam as a "great
religion" with her husband's Muslim travel ban. Perhaps her speech was
a quiet critique of Trump's policies, her way of saying she didn't
like the cages or the travel ban. Then again, perhaps it was the
greatest act of cynical misdirection of this entire repulsive
convention.

Either way, while Melania went a long way toward establishing a separate
public identity for herself (not for nothing did she walk in
unescorted), I don't think she succeeded in altering Donald Trump's
public identity, which is, after all, one of the convention's goals. I
assume it was one of her goals, too, but who knows? Maybe, like
Trump's sister and niece, she's had it with him, but has decided to
stick it out.

More important, I doubt the public can be made to believe there's a
kinder, gentler Trump, and I don't think his strategists believe
that's possible either, save among a handful of white suburbanites
seeking some excuse to vote for the guy. The bulk of his voters will
come, they believe, if he can summon them to join in civil war.

~ HAROLD MEYERSON

Follow Harold Meyerson on Twitter

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Unconventional: The Republicans, Day One

Even Diversity Night was nutcase right. BY HAROLD MEYERSON

Populism After Trump

Josh Hawley's communitarian nationalism echoes the 'social'
nationalists of Europe. BY JUSTIN H. VASSALLO

Reaganland and the Rise of the New Right

Rick Perlstein in conversation with David Dayen BY PROSPECT STAFF

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